Lending a hand

College of Social Work fellowship carries on graduate's generous legacy

Tim Wise describes his mom as a warrior, and thanks to a fellowship established at
the University of South Carolina's College of Social Work in honor of her family,
her strength continues to inspire others.

Yancey Kemp Wise did many things ahead of her time — a trait she came by honestly
from her mother, Dorothea Crouch Kemp, who got a college degree from Carolina before
most women did such things. Yancey Wise blazed trails of her own as she spoke openly,
honestly and often about the depression and bipolar disorder she battled for most
of her adult life.

She also fought back against mental illness by earning a master’s degree in social
work from Carolina in 1981, putting that degree to use as a family therapist and an
advocate for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

The Dorothea Crouch Kemp fellowship helps students pursue careers through the College
of Social Work.

“It’s hard for anyone who doesn’t suffer from mental illness to understand or appreciate,”
says Tim Wise, a Carolina graduate who also received his law degree from the university.
“Most people would just hope to get up in the morning, not necessarily go back to
school and get a master's of social work.”

Yancey Wise, who died in 2014, created the Dorothea Crouch Kemp fellowship to honor
her mother and to help students in the College of Social Work pursue their own passions.

“She definitely was a very hard-working, strong person,” says David Wise, Tim’s brother.
“It was always a passion of hers to try to help others.”

One student benefiting from Yancey Wise’s generosity is Edikan Ndon, a native of Nigeria
who is pursuing a master’s degree after realizing that her original career path — she
graduated from Lander University in 2012 with a degree in exercise physiology — was
not her calling. After an unsatisfying occupational therapy internship, Ndon got a
job as a financial case manager at a hospital, helping patients understand treatment
costs.

“I found that I liked the patient interaction,” she says.

Around the same time, Ndon had an eye-opening conversation at her church with a Nigerian
missionary helping citizens deal with ongoing political unrest in her native country.

“I asked her, ‘What does Nigeria really need right now?’ She told me that Nigeria
needed a lot of counselors, because a lot of families were being displaced,” Ndon
says. “At that point, it kind of clicked for me.”

Most people would just hope to get up in the morning, not necessarily go back to school
and get a master's of social work.

Tim Wise

To help defray graduate school costs, Ndon applied for the Dorothea Crouch Kemp fellowship,
which enabled her to take part-time classes while also working. When she graduates
in three years, she plans to return to Nigeria to help establish the needed infrastructure
to build a widespread network of social support.

“I knew I wanted to eventually go back. I just didn’t know in what capacity I could
help,” Ndon says.

“It’s not something I can tackle on my own. Part of what I’m going to take away from
social work is also the importance of mobilizing other people.

“The work is there. We just need more people.”

Ndon’s ambition seems like one Yancey Wise would approve.

“She had a passion for eliminating the stigma of mental illness and improving treatment,”
Tim Wise says. “The fellowship is a great legacy for her leave.”

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We collaborate with the local, national and international communities to promote social well-being and social justice through dynamic teaching, research and service. Our graduates find careers in gerontology, health care, mental health and addiction services, youth services, support for military members and their families, community organizing, advocacy and social policy.